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Upcoming Congressional Fiscal Policy Deadlines

Updated 12/7/2018: A two-week continuing resolution was signed on December 7. Five of 12 appropriations bills have been signed. The other appropriations bills or another continuing resolution must be passed before funding expires on December 21.

The next two years contain several predictable fiscal policy deadlines that will force Congressional action. Many of these deadlines could bring additional costs if Congress acts irresponsibly or could represent a moment for Congress to reduce deficits.

We will regularly update this tracker to help reporters, Congressional staff, and others interested in fiscal policy keep tabs of major deadlines. We recommend that you bookmark it and come back to check in.

Congress will need to act on each of these dates or enact short-term extensions to move the deadlines.

Issue

Deadline

Potential Ten-Year Cost

More Information

National Flood Insurance Program Reauthorization Needed

December 21

TBD

The House and Senate elected to extend the deadline for another four months at the end of July. More on NFIP

The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 set funding levels for 2018 and 2019. Sequester-level caps return for FY 2020 and 2021. Discretionary spending caps are scheduled to fall by $125 billion between 2019 and 2020.

These trust fund exhaustion dates are estimates provided by the Congressional Budget Office. The Social Security Trustees project slightly different dates of 2032 for Disability Insurance and 2034 for Old-Age and Survivors Insurance.